Derrick Russell

Hey, I love animals. Animals are awesome. I watch nature documentaries constantly. I like every picture of an animal I see on Instagram. I wouldn't change a thing about animals. But... what if animals were round? Have you ever asked yourself that question. I hadn't until I'd seen this video. This video, which is really just a commercial for some animation conference, both raises that question... and answers it at the same time. Thanks Internet!

And if your next logical question after watching that video was... But... what if meerkats were also round? Then do I have the follow up video for you!

You might not have realized this but for over a year now I've been dealing with some serious stuff. Stuff that caused the whole range of emotions. There was Anger. Depression. Confusion. And I wish I could say acceptance but there was no acceptance. They had stopped making my favorite Ice Cream flavor.

My favorite flavor was Ben and Jerry's "Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack." It was delicious. Potato chip clusters covered in fudge in vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls. It was good... really good. It was named after Fallon's then show Late Night. But then, and you may not have heard about this because there was no fanfare and Fallon has kept a low profile online... Jimmy Fallon started hosting a little program called The Tonight Show.

Way to go for Jimmy Fallon... but in the process I lost something precious... I lost Late Night Snack. And ever since I've had to settle for my second favorite ice cream. Cookie Dough.

But now it seems Jimmy, Ben, and Jerry have hears my lonely ice-creamless crys in the night. They have just announced a new Ice Cream. It's called.... drumroll.... "Tonight Dough"

and i quote... "The Tonight Dough is chock full of the stuff people love… a double-double flavor with two ice creams, two cookie doughs and a crunchy cookie swirl"

Ben and Jerry even went onThe Tonight Show to help announce it.

And even better all the proceeds will be donated to a children's charity. So now all I have to do is taste it...

I know what you are thinking, Radio DJs and Scientific Experiments go hand in hand. It's basically the modern day PB&J. So for our latest/first extremely scientific experiment we had some Play-doh, a bandana, and about 10 minutes to kill.

Somebody had brought some Play-Doh into the office and everybody immediately started smelling it, because apparently nothing smells quite like childhood like Play-Doh. So that got me thinking, does all Play-Doh smell the same or does each color smell different. First I tried to google the info and apparently Play-Doh does have a signature scent, it's a mixture of vanilla and some other secret ingredients that Play-Doh guards like Fort Knox. But I couldn't find anything specific about individual color smells... what I could find was a bandana... and 10 minutes to kill. So I gathered up some coworkers who share my interest in scientific endeavors... then I blindfolded them and had them smell stuff.

We had three colors of Play-Doh. Red. White. and Yellow.
I conducted this super professional experiment with four coworkers in the KICKS Laboratory/break room.

2 coworkers correctly guessed all three colors and are now henceforth known as super smellers
The 2 other coworkers correctly guessed the Red Play-Doh but mixed up the White and the Yellow. They were promptly let go.

So final results, all participants agreed Play-Doh has a unique smell. But while each color might have a slightly different smell, probably because of the food coloring, they really didn't smell all that different from each other. Play-Doh is just Play-Doh.

Let me set the scene. It was last week. I was playing on my phone (because it's 2015 and that is what people do anytime they have 8 seconds to spare). Fellow DJ Kelley Peterson walks in and asks if I'm playing Trivia Crack and I have no idea what she is talking about. She tells me it's a very popular app where you have trivia contests with other users of the apps, be they Facebook friends or random other users. She tells me I shouldn't play because with all the random stuff I got swirling in my head I would probably be addicted. I... actually listen to her. I don't play it, it does sound like something I would get addicted to. Story over right? Sorry about the misleading title.

Nope.

It's the next day. Another fellow employee asks me what is the capital of Switzerland (it's Bern). That is not a question a country radio DJ in West Texas gets asked everyday (or every decade for that matter). Then she asks me another question. Then another. Before I know it we have "together" beaten a random stranger on the internet in a game of trivia. I'd been playing Trivia Crack this whole time. So of course I immediately download the app, and start playing my own games. If you are one of the few people who haven't gotten it yet it goes like this.

It is a free to download game where you play a one on one game of trivia with another player. You get asked a variety of questions in the categories of Geography, Science, Art, Entertainment, History, and Sports. Each Category is represented by a character... the first player to collect all the characters wins.

Don't let the smile on the test tube fool you... he is pure evil.
They named it Trivia Crack because they knew it was going to be addictive. I have been playing it for less than a week and at any one time I have at least a dozen games going. I am the highest ranked of all of my friends, many of whom have been playing for months. People are starting to worry about my health and sanity. This is not supposed to be an entertaining story... this is a cry for help. I need to stop playing Trivia Crack but I can't. I think my only hope now is to play it so much I burn out on it and never want to play again. So if you already do play Trivia Crack... I can't in good conscience recommend it to a newcomer because I know first hand the time it has killed. But if you want to play me my name in game is @DerrickR. I'll see you on the other side... hopefully.

Wade Bowen had his late night Talk Show debut on Conan last night. He did a great performance of his current single "When I Woke Up Today" If you missed it here is the video...

And that got me thinking of other great Texas Country acts who have appeared on late night shows. I love Texas Country, I love late night talk shows... sadly they aren't combined nearly as often as I would like but below are some of my favorites.

First here is a classic Willie Nelson performance on The Tonight Show

Here is Randy Rogers performing "Interstate" on Conan way back in 2011...

And here is non other than Ray Wylie Hubbard singing on Letterman

As Texas Country begins to grow beyond the state's borders I'm hoping to be adding a lot more artists to this list soon.